Layton faces a hitman's wrath, secrets unravel, and Mega risks everything to save her—while Jordyn makes a dangerous move to protect her future.
“What’s all this for? Why you doing this!” Layton shouted through blood stained lips.
“It’s business.” The raspy voice she once trusted with her life replied. “When your boy gets here, I might let you live. You and your sister.”
“You know he’s gonna kill you, right?”
The hitman let out a gut wrenching howl of laughter. He didn't give a fuck about Layton and her threats. He was there for one reason, and one reason only. The life he blamed Pauline of stealing from him years ago.
"Then maybe I should kill you now and get it over with, huh?" he asked. "Shit, you ain't nothing to me anyway. Nothing more than a pawn."
“Fuck you, motherfucker!” Layton spat.
The hitman let out another hefty laugh. All he cared about was getting everything that was owed to him. So when he found out that Layton and Mega had tabs on Jordyn, he used Layton as bait to try and sink his teeth into Pauline.
“Your mother never told you about me. Did she? She never told you that you were adopted?" The hitman poked fun at Layton, who was battered, bruised, and helpless. "See, your real mama was nothing more than a two dollar whore. I took the bitch off the streets when she had you. Gave her a place to stay and food to put in her belly. But then, I got too comfortable with the bitch. Fell in love and you know what she did?” he lectured, as he sliced a line across Layton’s face. “Took everything I had and took off. All of it. Every penny!” He stuck his blade into her side and left it there.
Layton had no idea of what he was talking about. She was always under the impression that the woman who raised her, from as far as she could remember, was her mother.
Unlock This Scene
Unlock the rest of the chapter 🔓 The next part of the story is waiting for you! 🌟
Unlock ChapterMega felt heavy in his heart the closer he got to the lake. He couldn’t understand why. He just knew he didn’t feel right. Layton being silent and possibly in danger took him to a dark place. He'd lost a best friend years before and never wanted to experience the pain of that again. Not with Layton. Not with anyone.
“You okay?” Jordyn asked as she caressed the back of his head.
“Nah. I gotta get to Layton. Something ain’t right.”
“We’ll find her. Don’t worry.”
For some reason she couldn’t stop thinking about the baby from Mila's page. Mega said it wasn’t his, and he could’ve damn well been right, but the baby was on her mind heavy. That was the only thing she could think about. Until they finally pulled into the diner, and Mega linked up with his killer.
“There go Shaun right there.” He smiled as he pulled into the entrance of the diner. “My nigga always comes through in the clutch.”
As soon as Shaun saw the Jeep, he was out the door. When it came to some beef, that was the nigga you wanted in your corner every time. He was the sweetest man you could ever meet, but when it came to handling business, Big Shaun was even more ruthless than the hitman.
“Big homie! What it do?”
“Shit.” Shaun greeted Mega with a pound like always. “I walked up through the woods earlier and saw the nigga car ducked off by the back gate. I think he got Layton out there in the boathouse.”
“Probably," Mega nodded. "That’s the only place he would have some privacy to do whatever it is he's trying to do.”
“So how you wanna do this? We can sneak on him or make our presence known. You know I'm down for either one."
Mega put his thinking cap on before they made any sudden moves. His main focus was getting to Layton before anything happened to her. So much so, he didn't even think of a sure plan on his way there.
“That’s the only car you saw?" He asked. "You ain’t see nobody else?”
“Nah. I ain’t get too close, so I don’t know if he got somebody in there with him or not.”
“Alright. I'ma have Jordyn stay here and look out. Me and you can hike up there and see what he got running. Definitely gotta kill this nigga, though. Because he ain’t gonna let up if we let him walk.”
Big Shaun knew the drill already. He killed people for a living, so killing the hitman was right up his alley and truthfully, it was something he had wanted to do for a long time.
"You locked and loaded?" Shaun asked.
Mega lifted the trunk of his Jeep, grabbed his duffle bag and tossed it to Shaun. Anytime there was an issue, he was always fully prepared.
“You already know. Big guns. Blow a nigga whole shit off.”
“That’s what I like to hear."
After strapping on his bulletproof vest, Mega made his way over to Jordyn, who was sitting in the driver’s seat ready to hyperventilate. She was so scared her palms were sweating, but her body was as cold as ice.
“You good?”
“Trying to be.” She let a gust of air rush from her lungs. “You got some weed? Alcohol? I need something to calm my nerves ASAP.”
“Hey, relax," he placed his hands on both her cheeks. “I need you at full focus right now. Alright?”
“I'm trying," she said, while fanning herself. "I've never done anything like this before."
“Me and Shaun going up the trail. When I see Layton, I'ma call you. I need you to be looking out for anything suspicious in the meantime. Cops. Polo. Mila. Anything you feel like looks crazy, let me know. Alright?”
Jordyn could only manage to nod her head. She heard everything he said and she knew how important it was for her to keep her eyes open, but she couldn't speak to save her life.
The fear of knowing he was about to kill someone crippled her.
Back at the boathouse, the hitman was still going in on Layton. He knew it was only a matter of time before either Mega showed up or she told him where her mother was. He was hoping for both, but if Mega showed up first, he knew he would get double what he was owed.
“You think your boy’s coming for you?” He checked his watch. “It’s been a minute since he last heard from you and the nigga still ain’t here.”
“Unlike you, he’s loyal.” Layton mustered up the strength to talk shit. "Don't worry. He'll be here any minute now."
“Ha!" the hitman laughed. "I’m loyal until a motherfucker crosses me. Learn something, young blood. I didn't just wake up one day and decide I wanted to kill you."
The deeper Mega and Big Shaun got into the woods, the more anxious Mega became. It wasn’t like he had never killed anyone before. He just always had the upper hand in the situation. Dealing with the hitman, he kind of felt like he was going in blind. He didn't know where he was or how many men he had with him. So his nerves were on ten.
His worries about Layton were also clouding his judgment. Not hearing from her put a weight on his heart so heavy, he was literally out of breath hiking up the trail. And Mega was a man of good form and stamina.
“You good, homie?” Shaun asked, noticing his heavy breathing. “You breathing harder than me and I’m a big nigga.”
“Yeah.” Mega laughed. “I just hate not knowing shit.”
“I feel you. We gon be good, though. You know that.”
***
Sitting in the parking lot of the diner, Jordyn decided to text Polo. She hadn’t spoken to him since before the ball and she knew he was behind the guys running up in her mom's house, so she was a little on edge about why she hadn’t heard from him since that night.
“Cat got your tongue?” She texted.
“Scared now, huh?” He replied.
“Fuck you! Did you know you had a kid?”
It took him a minute before he replied because he wasn't sure what kind of tricks Jordyn was trying to pull. She also had never talked to him the way she had.
“By who?”
“Your bitch. Mila.”
Another ten minutes passed before he replied again.
“How do you know that?”
“It doesn’t matter. You fuck with my people again and I’ll make sure you never see that kid a day in your life.”
That was all she said before Polo started ringing her line off the hook. While she was waiting for Mega to call, Jordyn and Kaylani took it upon themselves to locate the baby.
She didn’t know for sure whether it was Polo’s baby or not. She just knew Mila had a baby. And after the day Jordyn had had, if Mila didn’t make that child her main focus, she would never see her baby again either.
“Hey.” Jordyn answered Kaylani’s call on the first ring. “Did you get her?”
“Yeah, I got her. My homegirl works at the daycare so I had to pay her off, but she let me dip out the back with her. What now?”
Kaylani was scared to death. But she would have done anything to save Jordyn. Even if it meant going to jail for kidnapping some random kid and holding her for ransom.
“You know the lake house diner out there past the hills?”
“Yeah?” Kaylani nodded as she quickly headed for her car.
“Come out here. I’m sitting in the parking lot of the diner now.”
“I’m on my way.”
Jordyn couldn’t believe what she had gotten herself into. She didn’t even know where her mind got the idea from. All she knew was that she needed to come out of the smoke on top and untouched. By any means.
She would have never hurt a baby or put one in harm's way before meeting Mega. But she needed some leverage.
